ʼPhags-pa script
Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:More citations needed Template:Infobox writing system Template:RCL Template:Brahmic
The Phagspa (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell),Template:Citation needed Template:HamzaPhags-pa or ḥPTemplate:Aynags-pa script<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> is an alphabet designed by the Tibetan monk and State Preceptor (later Imperial Preceptor) Drogön Chögyal Phagpa (1235–1280) for Kublai Khan (Template:Reign), the founder of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) in China, as a unified script for the written languages within the Yuan. The actual use of this script was limited to about a hundred years during the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty, and it fell out of use with the advent of the Ming dynasty.<ref name="Mote1999">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The script was used to write and transcribe varieties of Chinese, the Tibetic languages, Mongolian, the Uyghur language, Sanskrit, probably Persian,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and other neighboring languagesTemplate:Citation needed during the Yuan era. For historical linguists, its use provides clues about changes in these languages.
Its descendant systems include Horizontal square script, used to write Tibetan and Sanskrit. During the Pax Mongolica the script even made numerous appearances in Western medieval art.<ref name="Mack 61">Template:Cite book </ref>
NomenclatureEdit
Template:HamzaPhags-pa script: Template:Phagspa Template:Translit, "Mongolian script";
Template:Langx Template:Translit, "square script"; {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Translit, "square writing"
Template:Bo "new Mongolian script";
Yuan dynasty Template:Zh "new Mongolian script"; {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}; pinyin: guózì "national script";
Modern Template:Zh "Template:HamzaPhags-pa script"; Template:Zh
In English, it is also written as ḥPTemplate:Aynags-pa, Phaspa, Paspa, Baschpah, and Pa-sse-pa.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
HistoryEdit
During the Mongol Empire, the Mongol rulers wanted a universal script to write down the languages of the people they subjugated. The Uyghur-based Mongolian alphabet was not a perfect fit for the Middle Mongol language, and it would have been impractical to extend it to a language with a very different phonology like Chinese.Template:Citation needed Therefore, during the Yuan dynasty (c. 1269), Kublai Khan asked the Tibetan monk [[Drogön Chögyal Phagpa|Template:HamzaPhags-pa]] to design a new alphabet for use by the whole empire. Template:HamzaPhags-pa extended his native Tibetan alphabet<ref name=":0" /> to encompass Mongol and Chinese, evidently Central Plains Mandarin.<ref>Template:Cite book p. 31.</ref> The resulting 38 letters have been known by several descriptive names, such as "square script", based on their shape, but today, are primarily known as the Template:HamzaPhags-pa alphabet.Template:Citation needed
Descending from Tibetan script, it is part of the Brahmic family of scripts, which includes Devanagari and scripts used throughout Southeast Asia and Central Asia.<ref name=":0" /> It is unique among Brahmic scripts in that it is written from top to bottom,<ref name=":0" /> as how classical Chinese used to be written, and as the Manchu alphabet or later Mongolian alphabet is still written.
It did not receive wide acceptance and was not a popular script even among the elite Mongols themselves, although it was used as an official script of the Yuan dynasty until the early 1350s,<ref>Kim, Sangkeun (2006): Strange names of God. The missionary translation of the divine name and the Chinese responses to Matteo Ricci’s Shangti in Late Ming China, 1583–1644. By Sangkeun Kim (Studies in Biblical Literature, 70.) New York: Peter Lang, 2004. Template:ISBN; p.139</ref> when the Red Turban Rebellion started. After this, it was mainly used as a phonetic gloss for Mongols learning Chinese characters. In the 20th century, it was also used as one of the scripts on Tibetan currency, as a script for Tibetan seal inscriptions from the Middle Ages up to the 20th century, and for inscriptions on the entrance doors of Tibetan monasteries.Template:Citation needed
Syllable formationEdit
Although it is an alphabet, Template:HamzaPhags-pa is written like a syllabary or abugida, with letters forming a single syllable glued or 'ligated' together.<ref name=":0" />Template:Multiple image Unlike the ancestral Tibetan script, all Template:HamzaPhags-pa letters are written in temporal order (that is, /CV/ is written in the order C–V for all vowels) and in-line (that is, the vowels are not diacritics). However, vowel letters retain distinct initial forms, and short /a/ is not written except initially, making Template:HamzaPhags-pa transitional between an abugida, a syllabary, and a full alphabet. The letters of a Template:HamzaPhags-pa syllable are linked together so that they form syllabic blocks.<ref name=":0" />
Typographic formsEdit
Template:HamzaPhags-pa was written in a variety of graphic forms. The standard form (top, at right) was blocky, but a "Tibetan" form (bottom) was even more so, consisting almost entirely of straight orthogonal lines and right angles. A "seal script" form (Template:Zh; "Mongolian Seal Script"), used for imperial seals and the like, was more elaborate, with squared sinusoidal lines and spirals.Template:Citation needed This Template:HamzaPhags-pa script is different from the Template:HamzaPhags-pa script, or 八思巴字 in Chinese, that shares the same name but its earliest usage can be traced back to the late 16th century, the early reign of Wanli Emperor. According to Professor Junast 照那斯图 of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the later Template:HamzaPhags-pa script is actually a seal script of Tibetan.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Korean records state that Hangul was based on an "Old Seal Script" (古篆字), which may be Template:HamzaPhags-pa and a reference to its Chinese name Template:Zh (see origin of Hangul). However, it is the simpler standard form of Template:HamzaPhags-pa that is the closer graphic match to Hangul.
LettersEdit
Basic lettersEdit
The following 41 are the basic Template:HamzaPhags-pa letters.
Letters 1-30 and 35-38 are base consonants. The order of Letters 1-30 is the same as the traditional order of the thirty basic letters of the Tibetan script, to which they correspond. Letters 35-38 represent sounds that do not occur in Tibetan, and are either derived from an existing Tibetan base consonant (e.g. Letters 2 and 35 are both derived from the simple Tibetan letter Template:Bo-textonly Template:Translit, but are graphically distinct from each other) or from a combination of an existing Tibetan base consonant and the semi-vowel (subjoined) Template:Bo-textonly Template:Translit (e.g. Letter 36 is derived from the complex Tibetan letter Template:Bo-textonly Template:Translit).
As is the case with Tibetan, these letters have an inherent Template:IPAblink vowel sound attached to them in non-final positions when no other vowel sign is present (e.g. the letter Template:Phagspa with no attached vowel represents the syllable Template:Translit, but with an appended vowel Template:Phagspa Template:Translit represents the syllable Template:Phagspa Template:Translit).
Letters 31-34 and 39 are vowels. Letters 31-34 follow the traditional order of the corresponding Tibetan vowels. Letter 39 represents a vowel quality that does not occur in Tibetan, and may be derived from the Tibetan vowel sign Template:Bo-textonly Template:Translit.
Unlike Tibetan, in which vowels signs may not occur in isolation but must always be attached to a base consonant to form a valid syllable, in the Template:HamzaPhags-pa script initial vowels other than Template:Phagspa Template:Translit may occur without a base consonant when they are not the first element in a diphthong (e.g. Template:Translit) or a digraph (e.g. Template:Translit and Template:Translit). Thus in Chinese Template:HamzaPhags-pa texts the syllables Template:Translit {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Translit, Template:Translit {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Translit and Template:Translit {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Translit occur, and in Mongolian Template:HamzaPhags-pa texts the words Template:Translit "boats", Template:Translit (gen.) "water", Template:Translit "now" and Template:Translit "protection" occur. These are all examples of where Template:Translit, Template:Translit, Template:Translit, Template:Translit etc. would be expected if the Tibetan model had been followed exactly. An exception to this rule is the Mongolian word Template:Translit "jewels", where a single vowel sign is attached to a null base consonant. Note that the letter Template:Phagspa Template:Translit is never found in an initial position in any language written in the Template:HamzaPhags-pa script (for example, in Tao Zongyi's description of the Old Uighur script, he glosses all instances of Uighur Template:Rotate text Template:Translit with the Template:HamzaPhags-pa letter Template:Phagspa Template:Translit, except for when it is found in the initial position, when he glosses it with the Template:HamzaPhags-pa letter Template:Phagspa Template:Translit instead).
However, initial semi-vowels, diphthongs and digraphs must be attached to the null base consonant 'A (Letter 30). So in Chinese Template:HamzaPhags-pa texts the syllables Template:Translit {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Translit, Template:Translit {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Translit and Template:Translit {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Translit occur; and in Mongolian Template:HamzaPhags-pa texts the words Template:Translit "not" and Template:Translit "gave" occur. As there is no sign for the vowel Template:Translit, which is implicit in an initial base consonant with no attached vowel sign, then words that start with an Template:Translit vowel must also use the null base consonant letter Template:Phagspa Template:Translit (e.g. Mongolian Template:Translit "living beings"). In Chinese, and rarely Mongolian, another null base consonant Template:Phagspa Template:Translit may be found before initial vowels (see "Letter 23" below).
Additional lettersEdit
| No. | Template:HamzaPhags-pa letter |
Tibetan derivation | Sanskrit or Tibetan Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| 42 | Template:Letter | Template:Bo-textonly | Template:Translit (Sanskrit Template:IAST) [Ill.3 Line 6] |
| 43 | Template:Letter | Template:Bo-textonly | Template:Translit (Sanskrit Template:IAST) [Ill.3 Line 8] (TTHA plus unreversed I)
Template:Translit (Sanskrit Template:IAST) [[[:Template:IAST]] Line 16] (TTHA plus reversed I) Template:Translit (Sanskrit Template:IAST) [[[:Template:IAST]] Line 10] (TTHA plus reversed E) |
| 44 | Template:Letter | Template:Bo-textonly | Template:Translit (Sanskrit Template:IAST) [[[:Template:IAST]] Line 14]
Template:Translit (Sanskrit Template:IAST) [Ill.4 Line 7] (DDA plus reversed HA) |
| 45 | Template:Letter | Template:Bo-textonly | Template:Translit (Sanskrit Template:IAST) [Ill.3 Line 3]
Template:Translit (Sanskrit Template:IAST) [Ill.3 Line 6] (NNA plus reversed I) Template:Translit (Sanskrit Template:IAST) [[[:Template:IAST]] Line 2] (NNA plus reversed U) Template:Translit (Sanskrit Template:IAST) [Ill.4 Line 5] (NNA plus reversed E) Template:Translit (Sanskrit Template:IAST) [[[:Template:IAST]] Line 13] (NNA plus reversed subjoined Y) |
| 46 | Template:Letter | Template:Bo-textonly | Template:Translit (Sanskrit Template:IAST) [Ill.3 Line 2]
Template:Translit (Sanskrit Template:IAST) [Ill.3 Line 9] Template:Translit (Sanskrit Template:IAST) [Ill.3 Line 9] Template:Translit (Tibetan Template:Translit "prosperity, good fortune") [Ill.5] |
| 47 | Template:Letter | Template:Bo-textonly | Template:Translit (Tibetan Template:Translit "Buddha") [Ill.6] |
| 48 | Template:Letter | Template:Bo-textonly | Template:Translit (Sanskrit Template:IAST) [Ill.3 Line 2]
Template:Translit (Sanskrit Template:IAST) [Ill.3 Line 9] |
Menggu ZiyunEdit
Following are the initials of the Template:HamzaPhags-pa script as presented in Menggu Ziyun. They are ordered according to the Chinese philological tradition of the 36 initials.Template:Citation needed
Shilin GuangjiEdit
The Shilin Guangji used Phagspa to annotate Chinese text, serving as a precursor to modern pinyin. The following are the Phagspa transcriptions of a section of the Hundred Family Surnames in the Shilin Guangji. For example, the name Jin ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), meaning gold, is written as Template:Phagspa Template:Translit.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:HamzaPhags-pa Spelling | Template:Phagspa Template:Translit | Template:Phagspa Template:Translit | Template:Phagspa Template:Translit | Template:Phagspa Template:Translit | Template:Phagspa Template:Translit | Template:Phagspa Template:Translit | Template:Phagspa Template:Translit | Template:Phagspa Template:Translit | Template:Phagspa Template:Translit | Template:Phagspa Template:Translit |
| Chinese Character | lang}} Template:Translit | lang}} Template:Translit | lang}} Template:Translit | lang}} Template:Translit | lang}} Template:Translit | lang}} Template:Translit | lang}} Template:Translit | lang}} Template:Translit | lang}} Template:Translit | lang}} Template:Translit |
UnicodeEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}
Template:HamzaPhags-pa script was added to the Unicode Standard in July 2006 with the release of version 5.0.
The Unicode block for Template:HamzaPhags-pa is U+A840–U+A877:Template:Citation needed Template:Unicode chart Phags-pa
U+A856 Template:Phagspa Template:Small is transliterated using Template:Unichar from the Latin Extended-D Unicode block.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See alsoEdit
- Brahmic scripts
- Mongolian alphabets
- Origin of hangul
- Mongol elements in Western medieval art
- Menggu Ziyun (Yuan dynasty Template:HamzaPhags-pa—Chinese rhyming dictionary)
- Shilin Guangji
- Siddhaṃ script
ReferencesEdit
Further readingEdit
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
External linksEdit
- BabelStone: Template:HamzaPhags-pa Script (with free fonts)
- Omniglot: Template:HamzaPhags-pa script
- Ancientscripts: hPhags-pa
- Mongolian characters after Kublai Khan
Template:List of writing systems Template:Yuan dynasty topics